Last year saw government recommendations to bring the consumtion of alcohol by men into line with recommended levels for women. The current suggested level of alcohol for both men and women is 14 units of alcohol per week, but spread out over the week and not 'saved up' for one or two nights drinking.

*Image from www.trynutrition.co.uk

A unit is approximately, 1/2 pint of ordinary strength beer, (lager, bitter etc at 3.6% ABV or less), one small glass (125mls) of 8% ABV wine or a single measure (25mls) of 40% ABV spirits. If you look at the back of a bottle or can containing alcohol, you will see a picture of a bottle or a can with a number in it. That number indicates the number of units contained in that drink. For the mathematically minded there is a formula for working out the number of units in a drink:

Volume of Drink in Millilitres x %ABV of the Drink ÷ 1000 = Number of Units of Alcohol

If you access the drinkaware website (link above) you can find many resources concerning alcohol from tests to determine how risky your drinking is, to drinks calorie counting!